Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes into account a player’s results over six half-year periods. For a look at the entire list, visit the official GPI website. Here’s a look at the rankings as of December 16, 2015.

GPI Top 10 Canadians (the #EhTeam)

Canadian Rank

Global Rank

Player

Total Score

1

10

Jonathan Duhamel

3,589.22

2

22

Mike McDonald

3,390.27

3

30

Sam Greenwood

3,226.63

4

39

Mike Leah

3,068.31

5

59

Daniel Negreanu

2,785.00

6

60

Sorel Mizzi

2,775.76

7

70

Daniel Dvoress

2,653.84

8

83

Sam Chartier

2,539.94

9

85

Andrew Chen

2,507.65

10

90

Mike Watson

2,484.14

Jonathan Duhamel continues to hold on to the top spot on Team Canada with Mike McDonald clawing away behind him.

The big change this week is Sam Greenwood gaining yet another spot in the rankings, finding himself No. 3 in the country and No. 30 in the world — his best ranking ever. This comes after finishing second in the EPT Prague Super High Roller for €583,500 last week, which happens to be the best tournament cash of his career.

Mike Leah also gained a spot, knocking Canada's most famous poker player, Daniel Negreanu, down to No. 5 in the country.

2015 GPI Player of the Year

Rank

Player

GPI Score

Change

1

Byron Kaverman

4736.90

-

2

Anthony Zinno

4649.05

-

3

Steve O’Dwyer

4640.17

+1

4

Nicholas Petrangelo

4406.04

-1

5

Dzmitry Urbanovich

4233.71

+1

6

Jason Mercier

4175.44

-1

7

Connor Drinan

3996.08

-

8

Dominik Nitsche

3848.66

-

9

Fedor Holz

3834.30

-

10

Scott Seiver

3834.10

-

There are only a couple of weeks left in 2015, which means the Global Poker Index Player of the Year race is now coming down to the wire with only a few chances left for players to improve their positions.

Byron Kaverman came up short in his effort to earn any points while at the just-completed European Poker Tour Prague festival, but nonetheless retains the top spot in the POY standings for a seventh-straight week as he continues to maintain a small lead over Anthony Zinno who had been at No. 1 from July through October.

Meanwhile Steve O’Dwyer moved up to No. 3 in this week’s rankings after winning the €50,000 Super High Roller at EPT Prague, topping a 46-entry field to earn a €746,543 payday. O’Dwyer also cashed in the €25,500 Single-Day High Roller won by Rainer Kempe (taking 11th); however, only the top 13 cashes by a player count toward the POY total, so O’Dwyer will need to earn a larger cash in order to improve his total before the year closes out.

Worth noting, the World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic is well underway at the Bellagio, where 91 players remain from the 639-entry field to start today’s Day 4. Looking at players in the current GPI POY top 10, both Fedor Holz (No. 9) and Scott Seiver (No. 10) are returning to healthy stacks today in that event.

There’s also the WPT Alpha8 Las Vegas event coming Dec. 18-20, and depending on who gets involved in that $100,000 buy-in tournament (and how big the field turns out to be), that, too, could have an affect on the POY finish.

GPI 300 Top 10

Rank

Player

GPI Score

Change

1

Byron Kaverman

4308.16

-

2

Anthony Zinno

4155.82

+1

3

Jason Mercier

4071.96

-1

4

Steve O’Dwyer

3990.01

-

5

Nicholas Petrangelo

3789.29

+2

6

Bryn Kenney

3678.41

-

7

Kevin MacPhee

3657.01

+1

8

Martin Finger

3655.92

+1

9

Stephen Chidwick

3628.48

+7

10

Jonathan Duhamel

3589.22

+3

Kaverman also stayed on top again for a 12th-straight week in the overall GPI rankings, with Zinno and Jason Mercier swapping positions to allow Zinno to slide back into the No. 2 position overall.

Down at the bottom of the overall top 10, two new players jumped onto the list this week. Stephen Chidwick moved up from No. 16 to No. 9 after picking up three cashes at EPT Prague including winning a €2,200 side event. And while Jonathan Duhamel just picked up a small cash in a prelim at the WPT Five Diamond, that didn’t affect his moving up from No. 13 to No. 10 again as others’ totals were adjusted around him due to the aging factor.

Chidwick’s previous highest GPI ranking has been No. 3 (in June 2015), while Duhamel’s previous peak was at No. 5 (in July 2012).

Welcome to the GPI Top 300

Rank

Player

Total Score

207

Piotr Franczak

1909.35

216

Matthias De Meulder

1885.35

228

Sam Stein

1837.29

232

Roman Korenev

1835.08

242

Nick Yunis

1819.37

244

Jean-Noel Thorel

1811.14

246

Leo Wolpert

1810.90

247

Arie Ori Miller

1803.41

248

Raiden Kan

1799.77

261

Daniel Buckley

1776.32

265

Hui Chen-Kuo

1768.71

275

Stefan Ivanov

1750.69

280

Ricardo Alvarado

1743.43

286

Vyacheslav Stoyanov

1737.05

289

Fernando Brito

1733.30

295

Ryan Tepen

1723.38

296

Lance Garcia

1723.04

300

Ben Palmer

1714.45

There are lots of tournaments and series playing all over the world this month, as reflected by the large influx of newcomers to the overall top 300 as no less than 18 players have jumped onto the list.

The highest-ranked among this large group is Piotr Franczak who made a huge move up from No. 495 to No. 207 after cashing three times at EPT Prague including one final table and a ninth-place finish in the €25,500 Single-Day High Roller.

Biggest Gains

Rank

Player

Total GPI Score

Change

228

Sam Stein

1837.29

+643

275

Stefan Ivanov

1750.69

+339

207

Piotr Franczak

1909.35

+288

244

Jean-Noel Thorel

1811.14

+250

242

Nick Yunis

1819.37

+181

That leap by Franczak was in fact only the third-biggest of the week among players currently in the overall top 300.

Stefan Ivanov went all of the way from No. 614 to No. 275 after picking up three cashes in Prague including a victory in a €550 NLHE Hyperturbo Bounty side event. And Sam Stein was the week’s biggest gainer after catapulting from No. 871 to No. 228 thanks to winning the $10,400 Pot-Limit Omaha event at the WPT Five Diamond, then taking third in the $5,200 NLHE tournament just a couple of days later.

Biggest Drops

Rank

Player

Total GPI Score

Change

268

Andrey Zaichenko

1762.43

-112

287

Doug Polk

1734.79

-80

235

Dylan Linde

1833.05

-74

285

Antonio Esfandiari

1737.70

-69

238

Kevin Eyster

1831.79

-67

Finally, there are five familiar names among those dropping the most this week while remaining in the top 300, with Andrey Zaichenko having fallen the furthest after going from No. 156 to No. 268.

What to Expect Next Week

As noted, the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic festival continues at the Bellagio with its Main Event coming to a conclusion this weekend and the WPT Alpha8 Las Vegas coming soon afterwards. The Seminole Hard Rock Winter Poker Open is also coming to a close over the next few days, as is the France Poker Series Enghien festival and the Dutch Poker Open Series in Breda, Netherlands.

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